State files cert petition with Supreme Court in defense of marriage laws

SALT LAKE CITY – Tuesday, the Utah Attorney General’s Office filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court, requesting a review of Kitchen v. Herbert, a recent 10th Circuit Court decision that struck down Utah’s marriage laws.

In a press release about the filing, Attorney General Sean Reyes said:

My responsibility is to defend the State Constitution and its amendments as Utah citizens have enacted them. We recognize this litigation has caused uncertainty and disruption and have accordingly tried to expedite its resolution as quickly as possible by filing our petition a full month-and-a-half before its September 23rd due date. Utah welcomes a speedy grant of the petition and a Supreme Court merits decision, as all Utah citizens will benefit when the Supreme Court provides clear finality on the important issue of state authority to define marriage.

In response to Tuesday’s filing, Marc Solomon, national campaign director for Freedom to Marry, a campaign for nationwide marriage equality for same-sex couples, released the following statement:

Today’s filing in the Utah case paves the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a marriage case later this year and bring national resolution on marriage once and for all. Every day, hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples and their children are suffering the tangible harms of not being free to marry. The sting of discrimination and the crazy quilt of marriage laws are not just wrong but unconstitutional. The momentum is clear, the hardships of denial are real, and the country is ready for the High Court to act.

Same-sex marriage is currently legal in 20 states as well as in Washington, D.C. In 2013, a Supreme Court ruling struck down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act and granted federal benefits to same-sex couples who are married in states where same-gender marriage is permitted.

In Utah, approximately 1,300 same-sex couples were married during a 17-day window after U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby’s 2013 ruling that the state’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional.

Resources

Related posts

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

4 Comments

  • Bribe August 5, 2014 at 3:36 pm

    Is the Utah Attorney General bribing someone or exchanging a deal (bribe) with members of the Supreme Court? Isn’t that how the Utah Attorney General office gets things done, through bribes?

  • mesaman August 5, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    You seem to have much knowledge of bribery and it’s functions. Want to tell us more?

    • Zonkerb December 3, 2014 at 11:21 pm

      Why.? Because it’s to confusing for you to figure it out on your own

  • Dana August 6, 2014 at 5:33 am

    The Hypocrisy Theocracy continues. Herbert and Reyes will forever be remembered as the great money spenders who claim to defend the constitution yet turn a blind eye to the child abuse that continues in Hildale. Herbert and Reyes. Idiots. Elevated.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.